Hem or seam for sewed articles and method of making same.



H 1. s. LEWIS. v HEM 0R SEAM FOR SEWED ARTICLES AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

APPLICATION'FILED DEC. 8, $914- V I Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

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J. G. LEWIS. HEM 0R SEAM FOR SEW ED ARTICLES AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

APPLICATION men vac. a. 1914.

Patented Apr. 18, 191

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JOHN G. LEWIS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

HEM 0R SEAM FOR SEWED ARTICLES AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 1%, 11916.

Application filed December 8, 1914. Serial No. 876,102.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN G. LEWIS, a citizen of the United States, residing in St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Home or Seams for Sewed Articles and Methods of Making Same, of which the -fol1owing is a specification.

My invention relates to a hem'or seam for sewed articles and method of making same.

In general my invention has for its object to provide an improved concealed-effect felling seam adapted for production by sewing machine, and a particular object of my invention is to improve upon the seam structures shown and described in my copending application, Serial No. 502,878, filed Junel8, 1309. In said application I have described and claimed a seam invention wherein an'edged layer of material may be secured to a subjacent base layer by a single row of stitches, entering the superimposed layer and emerging from the base layer on the same side of the work and preferably blind in the base layer, and with the running connections of the needle thread,

' between adjoining stitches, overcast across that is tosay,

the edge to engage the keying connections,

so that for every needle thrust there results the laying of both (a) the goods-penetrating loop structure, properly keyed, securing the goods layers together, and (b) an overcast needle-thread bight or loop springing from the points of needle entrance on the previous and instant stitches, running over the edge ofthe superimposed layer, and retained by the keying connections at the point of emergence of the instant stitch from the base layer. In my said application I have also indicated that this overcasting of a needle-thread bight or loop may be efiected with different sorts or types of stitching,- lock stitching and chain stitching ;-and with respect to the present improvement the same thing is true.

In all of the embodiments of myinvention shown in my aforesaid application, the

bend or crest of each overcast bight of needle thread passes under the keying connections from the inner side toward the outer side of the line of keying connections.

The specific object of my present invention is to provide a seam, and method of making the same, whereby the crest of each overcast bight or loop may pass under its keying connections from the outer side inwardly. That is,

bight, the crest of which passes in under the keylng connections partially to encompass the point of stitch emergence from the base.

layer. In this way I am enabled to increase the facility for, and tendency to, concealment of the keying connections or thread runs under the edge of the superimposed layer, thus enhancing the desirability of the seam-structure for many kinds of work, and Increasing its beauty.

In the accompanying drawings I have 1llustrated,in such grossly exaggerated fashion as seems best calculated for ready understanding of the seam structure and a method of its production,embodiments of my present invention in both look stitch and chain stitch seams.

In said drawings-Figure '1 is a perspec tive view showing a lock stitch form of seam in the course of the making thereof, the illustration, of course, being diagrammatic and the plies of material shown being illustrated as partly pulledapart, and with the threads loosened, the more clearly to show the thread concatenation. Figs. 2 and 3 represent successive stages in the.formation of the stitch shown (to the left) as partially completed in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is the section along the diagonal line of one of the stitches. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing a chain stitch formation.

In the seam construction shown 10 indi-' cates a base layer of fabric and '11 a superimposed layer preferably having a turnedunder edge 12 so that the edge portion of said layer is composed of two plies 11 and 11. This typifies the condition presented under many circumstances in clothing manufacture, but it will be apparent that my invention is not dependent upon the number of plies or layers of superimposed material to be connected to the in accordance with my present inventlon, the keying connections thread portions that connect the points of needle entrance into the work I will term the needle-thread running connections; and the thread runs that connect the successive points of needle emergence from the base layer, and key the penetrant loops of needle thread, I will term the keying connections.

Assuming a series of stitches a, b, and c to be made, each entering the superimposed layer at 14, passing downward therethrough into and out of the base layer to emerge at 15, a succession of needle thread running connections 16 will connect the several points of entrance 141 and a succession of keying connections 17 on the base layer will connect the points of stitch emergence 15, these keying connections 17, in a lock stitch seam construction, consisting of a run of bobbin thread, and, in a chain stitch construction, consisting of the enchained loops of needle thread; Either form of construction, providing a series of keyed penetrant loops, secures together the two layers. The successive needle thread running connections 16 are overcast across the edge, each to form a bight or loop, springing from the points 14 of entrance of two successive stitches, and having its crest engaged with and positioned by the keying connections at the point of emergence of the last-made of said stitches from the base layer. Generically such overcasting of the needle thread bight is shown in my aforesaid application, but in the embodiment of my present invention the limbs 19-19 of the overcast bight 16 pass down outside of the keying connections 17 and the crest 20 passes inward under said keying connections and around the point of emergence of the stitch from the base layer. In consequence of this arrangement it will be apparent that tension applied to the stitching threads may readily draw the edge of the superimposed material 11 over beyond the'line of keying connections 17 entirely to conceal said keying connections under the edge, and furthermore as will be apparent from Fig. 4, further rolling over of the edge (should 'it be desired) by a pressing operation, is 'facilitated. In the completed article the thread 17, raised by the reversed loops 20, will tend to lie against the superimposed material, if the stitching is fairly tight, and hence the two threads may for neat effect, be both of a color to match the superimposed layer. a

The preferred 'methodic operations by which I obtain this thread arrangement areas follows: The keying connection from the preceding stitch (whether, as in Fig. 1 the keying connection is supplied by a bobbin thread, or, as in Fig. 5, by chain loops of needle thread) is laid inside of the line of needle-emergence-pomts 15 and is carried rearward, or counter to the feed, (shown by the arrow), beyond the predetermined point of needle emergence. (A mechanical holder, 71, is shown in dotted lines for clear understanding). The needle thread connection 16, running from the point of entrance of instant stitch, 0, back to the preceding stitch, Z2, is then overcast across the edge and laterally beyond said keying connection, and the bight or loop so overcast is given a half twist such that its anchored'limb 19, leading to the previously completed stitch, lies under its spool limb 19 (that is, the limb that leads through the eye of the needle to the spool). The needle, n, on its thrust, emerging under and outside of or laterallybeyond the keying connection 17 passes through the half twisted overcast loop and presents the needle thread loop 21 to the loop taker;

and then the keying thread structure is locked or enchained with the needle thread loop 21 in any usual fashion. Laying the keying connection so that it passes to the inner side of (in a transverse direction) and beyond (in linear direction) the point of needle-emergence, before looking or enchaining said keying connections with the penetrant needle thread loop 21, results in giving the keying connections a back-turn, as it were, half around the anchored limb 19 of the overcast bight, which itself has been thrown under the limb 19' by reason of the half-twist of the overcast bight. Thus, as

will best be appreciated from examination of Figs. 2 and 3, as the threads are drawn up, the back turn of the keying connections straightens out, carrying the anchored limb 19 of the overcast bight along toward the side of its anchorage in the preceding stitch, untwisting the half-twisted bight, and so giving to the inter-engaged overcast bight and the keying connections their intended relative positions such that the bight-crest passes inwardly under the keying connections.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1.' A seam involving a body of material and a row .of stitches therein having their entrance points connected by needle thread running 1 connections and their emergence points connected by keying connections, overcast bights in the needle thread running connections,.each formed between two successive stitches, each having its crest positioned by said keying connections at the emergent point of the last made one of the said two successive stitches, and each having its limbs passing outside of, and its crest passing inwardly under, said keying connections.

2. A hem or seam for sewed articles comprising a base layer of goods, a superimposed layer of goods, presenting an edge, and a row of stitches connecting said layers,

each stitch entering the superimposed layer and emerging from the base layer on the same side of the work, the emergent ends of said stitches connected by. keying connections, and the entrant ends of said stitches connected by needle thread running connections, each said running connection forming a bight, overcast on the said side of the work, with its crest passing under the keying connections in an' inward direction and partially encompassing the point of emergence of one of said stitches.

3. A blind-stitch concealed-effect felling seam comprising the base layer, a superimposed layer having a turned under edge, and a single row of stitches connecting said layers, said stitches entering the superimposed layer and emerging from the baselayer on the same side of the work, said stitches having their emergent ends connected by keying connections lying along the base layer under 7 the edge of the superimposed layer and having their entrant ends connected by running connections of needle thread, each said running connection between two stitches forming a bight overcast across the edge and positioned 'by the keying connections at the emergent end of the last made of said two stitches, the

crest of each said bightpass ing under said keying connections inwardly, so that said keying connections lie inwardly from the limbs of the overcast bight.

4. In the art of stitching goods with a recip- I rocating needle to unite the goods-layers by a,

series of keyed stitches, the steps which con IIGSSSS.

sist in overcasting a half-twisted loop of needle thread from between the points of entrance of successive stitches to receive the needle on its emergence in forming thelast said stitch, and giving the keying connections from the previous stitch a back-turn about one limb ofsaid half twisted loop before engaging said keying connections with the needle carried loop. I

5. The improvement in the art of stitching goods with a reciprocating needle to unlte the edge portion of a superimposed layer to a base layer by a series of keyed stitches, which consists in overcasting the needle carried thread, between successive needle penetrations, with a half twlst laying the anchored limb of the'bight under the v JOHN G. LEWIS.

In the presence of- I Geo. T. MA ,Jr., MARY F. .ALLEN. 

